The terrorist attacks that ravaged Brussels through a series of explosions Tuesday is unlikely to inspire copycat attacks in the homeland, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday.

“So far we don’t see any indication of that here,” Comey said during a news conference at the Department of Justice. “And, in fact, I am an optimist, but I actually think that it may have the reverse effect.”

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Comey said in the wake of a terrorist attack the FBI immediately focuses on whether there were any U.S. connections to those responsible for carrying out the strike and whether anyone in the U.S. would see that as a copycat opportunity. He suggested the mayhem from a terrorist attack, like the one in Brussels that left more than 30 dead and more than 270 injured, would diminish any hopes of carrying out a similar attack rather than inspire it.

“When people see images of innocent men, women and children being slaughtered around the world, I hope that will reinforce the notion that the Islamic State, so-called, is not engaged in some heroic, romantic battle on the side of good, but instead they’ll see it as a bunch of savages occupying a space that’s hell on earth right now,” Comey said.

The FBI director said the agency has seen a decrease in the number of cases of people trying to travel to Islamic State territory. “That’s a positive trend,” he added, “and we hope very much it reflects an understanding by people looking for a center in their life, this is not the place to find it.”

Comey said he wouldn’t “give this group of savages credit for getting better” but expressed concern over people in the U.S. “responding to the poison” and becoming radicalized in the homeland, as well as people who flow in and out of Syria, especially in Europe.

“This is a manifestation of that problem,” he said. “I don’t think it reflects greater skill or organization on ISIS’ part.”

Comey also addressed the notion that he has been on the defensive regarding an encryption case in which federal law enforcement are trying to get information off Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone. Farook was part of the couple in San Bernardino, California, that went on a killing spree in December that left 14 dead.

Comey wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday criticizing the newspaper for its editorial, insisting the Journal was “wrong to assert that the FBI and the Justice Department lied about our ability to access the San Bernardino killer’s phone.”

“I don’t feel defensive, honestly. I do feel strongly when someone accuses, especially a major publication, the Department of Justice and the FBI of being dishonest,” Comey said Thursday. “That’s something that can’t be let to lie, to sit there. We have to respond to that.”

“Our goal all along,” he added, “is to facilitate an adult conversation about a serious conflict between two things we all care about. That’s our goal.”